Childish
by LazyKid24
Summary: Prince Gumball has to deal with Marshall Lee's immature tendencies while he tries to finish up his work but will Marshall let him?


CHILDISH

As ruler of some of the most helpless creatures in all of Ooo, Prince Gumball has become an expert in patience. Where others master in the art of candy construction or musicianship, Gumball perfects his ability to keep composure even under the most stressful conditions. It takes a lot to get under his skin. That must be the reason why a certain vampire king takes pride in infuriating the Prince of the Candy Kingdom with little to no effort.

"Well hello, _Your Majesty_." Prince gumball could just hear the smirk in Marshall's voice. Gumball sighed as he continued with the task at hand. Taking the kingdom-wide census of all the citizens of the Candy Kingdom always led to sleepless nights and this year looked to be no different.

"What do you want Marshall? Gumball grumbled as he continued to pencil in information. Marshall Lee made his way lazily into the room, drifting into the window with his signature axe guitar in hand.

"Well that's not how royalty should be treated right? I mean, I am a KING and you are a PRINCE if I'm not mistaken." Prince Gumball didn't need to look up from his desk to see Marshall's childish grin plastered on his face. He could feel it in his words.

"Weird, you don't seem all too concerned with the well-being of your kingdom and its citizens." Gumball grumbled.

"Eh, they take care of themselves. They don't need a babysitter." Marshall said as he floated closer and closer to Gumball, "but you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" He muttered, "_Candy boy_."

Gumball sat up abruptly in his seat and turned to face the vampire with his neck stiff and his hands balled into fists.

"What is it that you want, Marshall?" Gumball grumbled coldly.

"Coffee."

"What?"

"A cup of coffee would be nice. No cream, no sugar, nice and strong if you can." he said with a smirk. Gumball pouted as he stood and stormed out of the room with heavy footsteps. Curse his obsessive principals of etiquette. Once a guess requests something, especially something as miniscule as a cup of coffee, it is practically impossible for the prince to refuse. Just the thought of Marshall getting the best of him made Gumball's skin crawl.

It's a gift that Marshall Lee has perfected over his one thousand years of life, this irritating way of going about social interactions. It didn't matter how stone-faced one was, Marshall just had that natural talent of making some people want to pull their hair out. He loved his ability, reveled in it. Why? He told himself because messing with other people was just too much fun. Pushing people pass the brink of insanity was one of the most entertaining activities he knows. But that's not how Prince Gumball sees it. As far as the prince is concerned, annoying people out of their minds was Marshall Lee's way of connecting with the world. It was his way of making himself feel alive, to make himself feel relevant in a world he has seen change so much in his thousand years of life. By pushing others to the brink of sanity, Marshall was keeping himself from falling deep into the pits of anguish and despair. Glob only knows what would happen to Marshall if he isolated himself from the world. When Gumball thinks back to all the previous experiences he has with Marshall Lee, it is a wonder as to how he could've survived all those hundreds of years with his state of mind still intact. As painful as the thought may be, Gumball thinks that Marshall didn't emerge unscathed from his years of isolation. As strong headed as that boy may be, he still has a nagging need for social interaction. Living all those years alone must've left him with the insatiable thirst for companionship. That being said, Gumball couldn't help but feel a little of empathy for him. Just a little.

Sighing, Prince Gumball made his way into the small kitchen hidden in a labyrinth of doors and hallways. It was a much more modest kitchen compared to the others that dotted the castle. It was Gumball's favorite kitchen to use. He was able to leave things however he found it convenient and didn't have to worry about the kitchen staff taking over his job. To the kitchen staff, it was bad taste to leave any sort of manual labor to the prince. This occasionally annoyed Gumball, so he often used this kitchen at night. Mostly just to make drinks and other midnight snacks. He enjoys the tranquility of the secluded kitchen, especially when the room was bathed in the silver moonlight like it was tonight.

Gumball rummaged through the various cupboards and eventually found a tall, wide, turquoise coffee mug with a big crescent handle. Then, Gumball proceeded to create the cup of coffee. Luckily, he had brewed a batch earlier in the night to keep himself up for a long night of punching numbers. Little did he know he would be entertaining a certain Vampire King. The thought was enough to throw him into a hair-tussling rampage. There was no time for Marshall's childish games. There never was any time...

Before Gumball knew what his hands were doing, he realized what he had done. He created a cup of coffee for himself, adding in all the various creams and sugars he enjoyed. With an exasperated grunt, he trudged to the cupboard again and pulled out a tall, rectangular mug and sighed. This was one of Gumball's favorite mugs because of its unique shape and its deep, bold, red hue. It looks as though Gumball is going to have another plain white mug in his personal cupboard again. Cripes. As Gumball angrily poured another cup, he began to wonder why Marshall would even waste time annoying him. It wasn't as if he was the only person the vampire king knew.

Though the years, Marshall has actually been successful in finding companionship. Fionna the Human has become one of his primary go-to companions, despite the fact that she had already seen through his rather exasperating facade and had come to accept the fact that whenever Marshall Lee is around, there is an overwhelming chance that he is there to push her to the limits of her patience. But Fionna is understanding in her own way. She plays well with the Vampire King, even if that means ending up with a couple of deep blue bruises from wrestling matches that went a little too far. She was a good friend for Marshall: young, energetic, honest, and above all, forgiving. Prince Gumball occasionally caught himself feeling a little jealous of Fionna. She made hanging out with Marshall Lee look so easy, as if all his wild antics and rough expressions of endearment didn't faze her at all. How could she handle somebody so... wild? So unconcerned with the world around him and his contribution to its growth. Gumball could begin to feel his blood boil by just thinking about Marshall's selfishness.

Gumball climbed the stair slowly as to be mindful of the coffee that swished and swayed in the coffee cups. It wasn't until he was climbing the last three steps that he heard the soft guitar strumming coming from his room. It was brisk, light, and danced from chord to chord in a playful dance. As Gumball got closer and closer to the slightly ajar door, he could hear the tune a little better. Between the chords were light ghost notes that snuck their way into the song. Then, Gumball made his way into the room to see Marshall lounging above his bed with his guitar pulled up to his neck, legs crossed, and fingers dancing across the fret board.

"Your coffee." Gumball stated to get the attention of the boy. Marshall stopped plucking at the strings of his guitar and sat up. When he caught sight of the big red coffee cup extended out to him, he grinned.

"Oh and a snack too, how thoughtful, Barnaby." He said with a chuckle. Gumball scowled as he made his way back to his desk with his own cup of coffee in hand.

"I expect that mug back exactly the way it is." he said in that motherly tone of his, not bothering to take his eyes off of his paperwork to face Marshall.

"Oh you know that ain't gonna happen. " Marshall said. The prince turned and glared at the Vampire King while he attempted an innocent smile. He failed miserably. "You know it's weird not seeing you dressed in your pink penguin suit. For once you could almost pass for normal." He said as he examined Prince Gumball's casual wear: a grey shirt and baggy pajama bottoms.

"Well I wasn't expecting visitors." Gumball grumbled. "And even if I knew you were coming, I wouldn't have taken the time to dress formally."

"Oh is that what dressing like a lady is called?" Marshall snorted which made Gumball turn.

"Coffee, then leave, Marshall." Gumball said as he turned back to his paperwork.

"Sweet. Where we going?"

"You are going to go home and let me finish my paperwork." Marshall snorts.

"Lame. I thought you were done being a little school boy when you graduated kindergarten two years ago." Marshall grumbled.

"One never stops working just as one never stops learning."

"Work work work. Where's the fun in that?"

"Nowhere. That's why it's called work."

"What are you, a robot?"

"I am the ruler of the Candy Kingdom and it is my duty-"  
"To be a wad?"

"To be responsible." Gumball grumbled as he turned to face the vampire.

"To be as fun as tasteless gum."

"And not be a crazy wild child that likes to annoy anyone who will give him the time of day.

"Eh, daytime isn't really my style."

"And apparently so is tact."

"Basically."

At this point, Gumball scooted out of his chair and stood. He was trying so hard to be patient with Marshall and play along until the point he lost interest and left. Because that's what always happens. He loses interest. He leaves. And doesn't come back until whatever glob knows what becomes boring and useless to him and comes floating back into his window he always so precariously leaves ajar. Gumball was tired of it and really didn't have time for it. He didn't have time for Marshall's conversations that felt more like interrogations. He didn't have time to entertain and humor the Vampire King. He just never has time. And that's all Marshall has. And that infuriates him to no end.

"Why did you come here, Marshall? What do you want?"

"Coffee." He said as he raised his mug.

"Aside from that, genius."

"I want to annoy the junk out of you, obviously," he said with a chuckle, "and kill a little time while I'm at it."

"Well you've already killed," Gumball glanced at the wall clock in the corner of the room, forty-six minute- wait what?!" Gumball did a double take at the horror of the current time. Crab apples, he's already so far behind. He hoped to at least be in the m's by the end of the night and he still has to finish the page he's on right now, shoot. Now he's going to have to work twice as fast to catch up and-

"Hey, did you know whenever you go into a mini freak-out sesh, you start thinking aloud there, Barny?" Marshall said with a smirk. Gumball scowled as he felt the temperature of his face rise.

"Shut up!" He declared defiantly as he shoved Marshall lightly. It wasn't until he felt his hand make contact that he realized the huge mistake he just made. Marshall swayed, just a little bit, but just enough to upset the liquid in Marshall's mug to the point of spilling. Marshall glanced at his hand with slight disbelief and a more prominent glare of annoyance.

"Oh, so you wanna go, Gummy?" Marshall asked with one eyebrow cocked. Gumball's expression fell into one of regret and panic. This was bad. Very bad.

Gumball wasn't even able to get one word of his apology in before Marshall Lee grappled him to the floor, wrapping his arm around his helpless form and letting his full weight do the rest. Gumball couldn't even comprehend the situation until his cheek was pressed flesh against the floor, Marshall's hand clutching the back of his neck and his leg pinning the rest of Barnaby to the floor. Gumball wiggled and squired underneath the weight of the taller boy but was unable to spring free. Marshall chuckled menacingly as he leaned in closer to whisper in his ear.

"Not so high and mighty now, are you, Barnaby?" he said. Gumball took the chance to throw his head back and nail Marshall in the face. He yelped has he shot up into the sitting position. Then, Gumball flipped onto his back and tossed Marshall to the ground in the process. Barnaby didn't waste any time grabbing Marshall's arm and wrapping his legs around it, successfully pulling him into an arm lock.

"OWOWOWOW OKAY, OKAY I GIVE UP OW!" the vampire king cried as he helplessly tapped on Gumball's leg. A grin pulled at the corners of his lips as Gumball let go and allowed Marshall to sit up.

"Where the junk did you learn to do something like that Barnaby?! That hurt like hell!"

"I learned it from school. You know, that place you said was just a waste of time?" Gumball said with a smirk.

"They teach junk like?!"

"It was more of a... self-taught thing..."

"What? Tired of being called the nerd and getting the pink beat out of you?" Marshall said jokingly. However, Gumball didn't seem to find it as humorous. With a solemn frown on his face, he rested his crossed arms on one of his knees and buried the bottom half of his face.

"Not that you would know." He mumbled. The room fell silent as Marshall felt the sting of his words.

Come to think of it, when Barnaby and he were actually friends, he didn't really ask him about school or anything like that. If anything, he probably added to the stresses of school by teasing him restlessly when they hung out. Yet, he never showed any weakness. He never wore bruises or cuts from fights, or flinched when Marshall would let harsher than usual words slip from his mouth. Hell, when Marshall got bored and went to go spy on Gumwad at school, there never seemed to be any problems. In fact, Marshall thought that there wasn't enough going on in school. Why would Gumball subject himself to such a boring waste of time in a drab, boring place with a bunch of stupid, boring people? Wasn't his company enough?

They sat in silence on the floor, each finding their own patch of hard pink tile to stare at.

"Well... uh... a-anyway... nice arm lock, Gumwad." he said with a forced chuckle. Gumball nodded as his eyes wondered back Marshall.

"So uh... thanks I guess... I needed to get some sort of exercise. I've been sitting at that desk for twelve hours." Gumball grumbled.

"Hey, if you need someone to beat the lump out of you, call me anytime." He said with a grin.

"If I remember correctly, I was the one who kicked your butt." Gumball stated proudly.

"Is that a challenge?" the Vampire King stated, as grinned wider, showing off his prominent white fangs. Gumball's eyes widened.

"N-no it's not! I was simply just stat-" He put up his hand up defensively as he scooted across the floor in an attempt to widen the gap between them.

"That sounds like a challenge to me!"

"N-n-wai-Marshall!"

The next day, Prince Gumball, ruler of the Candy Kingdom, had a hard time explaining the bruises that blotted his face and arms. However, he had an even harder time hiding the sheepish grin that threatened to spread across his face at any moment. He never did get to finish his paper work, and he didn't get the chance to apologize to Marshall Lee for ignoring him for so long. But what he got last night, getting the plump kicked out of him by the Vampire King like old times, was enough for now.

**_I can't write fight scenes sorry *sobs* anyway, hope you liked it. Review it if you like, I always enjoy getting feedback and such. Thanks for reading! _**


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